The night Corey Maggette got the best of Kobe Bryant in a head-to-head battle

Fourteen years NBA veteran Corey Maggette had plenty of memorable games in his NBA career. Known as a consistent scorer in the NBA, he had three seasons in which he averaged 20 or more points a game.

One game, in particular, sticks out from the rest. It just happened to come against one of the all-time greats in a rivalry game late in the season. Maggette’s night on April 12, 2007, was memorable, as he showed the league he could battle with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers as an all-around threat. This is a look closer look at that memorable night.

Clippers-Lakers rivalry

To most basketball fans, the Los Angeles Clippers have always been viewed as the younger brother to the Los Angeles Lakers. The two franchises have shared the Staples Center since 1999, and the Lakers have traditionally always been the better team.

In the 2006–2007 season, Both Los Angeles teams were pretty average. The Lakers would sneak into the playoffs with the seventh seed, while the Clippers found themselves on the outside looking in. It certainly wasn’t for lack of effort from Maggette, as he knew that the team needed to find a way to snap their three-game losing streak heading into the fifth to last game of the regular season against the Lakers. What ended up happening was arguably the best game of Maggette’s career.

Battling Bryant

Kobe Bryant was in the middle of a two-year scoring binge for the Lakers. He won back-to-back scoring titles, and had multiple games of 50 or more during the 2006–2007 season. The strategy for a lot of teams going against the Lakers involved letting Bryant score his points, and shutting everyone else down.

Maggette and Bryant didn’t match up exclusively against each other, but the two battled in the ways they were putting points up. Bryant was taking a lot of difficult shots, while Maggette was a lot smarter with his shots, relying on contact to get to the line as well.

The first half was solid individually for Maggette, as he scored 22 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists. His team, however, was trailing by four. A loss to the Lakers would virtually eliminate them from any playoff contention down the stretch, so the team needed to find a way to shut down some of the other players putting up solid stats for the Lakers.

The relentless attack of the basket by Maggette helped him pick up a lot of easy points. He was 17-24 from the free-throw line for the game, including 6-7 in the fourth quarter. More importantly, he spent some quality minutes guarding Bryant down the stretch, helping to contribute to a pretty mediocre six-point fourth quarter for Bryant on poor shooting.

A final look at Maggette’s Night

Corey Maggette ended the game with 39 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, four steals, and a block. He played all but five minutes of the game, and receive considerable help from his teammate Elton Brand to close out the win.

Bryant might have finished with 50 points and nine rebounds, but he was fatigued in the fourth quarter after playing the entire game. He couldn’t figure out the changes made by the Clippers, and Maggette helped limit him just enough. For that night, Maggette showed that he could compete directly against one of the all-time great’s and get into a legitimate scoring battle during most of the game. Today Maggette being the family man that he is has taken over in Southern California giving back to those in need and is a top player in the BIG3.

A look at advance metrics shows that this was Maggette’s most complete NBA basketball game of his career. He not only scored efficiently, but he said career highs for points and assists on the same night. Not too many players in NBA history can say that, and it was a pretty comprehensive look at Maggette playing at the peak of his powers in basketball haven Los Angeles where he and the other NBA star lived at the time. A well-rounded gameplan allowed him to do a little bit of everything, and his ability to get to the line offered up some easy points that led to a victory.

Mahesh is leading digital marketing initiatives at RecentlyHeard, a NewsFeed platform that covers news from all sectors. He develops, manages, and executes digital strategies to increase online visibility, better reach target audiences, and create engaging experience across channels. With 7+ years of experience, He is skilled in search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, and advertising, and analytics.